DprA is required for natural transformation and affects pilin variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Natural transformation is the main means of horizontal genetic exchange in the obligate human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae and drives the spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants. Transformation can be divided into four steps: (1) DNA binding, (2) DNA uptake, (3) DNA processing and (4) DNA recombination into the chromosome. The DNA processing enzyme DprA has been shown to shuttle incoming ssDNA to the recombination enzyme RecA during transformation in Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Here, we investigate the role of DprA during transformation in N. gonorrhoeae. Inactivation of dprA completely abrogated transformation of gyrB1-encoding DNA, which confers nalidixic acid resistance. The presence of the DNA uptake sequence enhances DNA uptake and transformation by binding to the minor pilus protein ComP. Loss of transformation in the dprA null mutants was independent of the DNA uptake sequence. DprA mutants exhibited increased RecA-dependent pilin variation suggesting that DprA affects pilin variation. Unlike the exquisite UV sensitivity of a recA mutant, inactivation of dprA did not affect survival following UV irradiation. These results demonstrate that DprA has a conserved function during transformation, and reveal additional effects of DprA in N. gonorrhoeae during pilin variation.